Pursehouse’s humble musings

Young Heart Attack

Carling Academy Liverpool

31^st March 2008

Rating 4 out of 5

Mmm, I feel a rant coming on…

Attention youth of Britain. There is a 5 piece currently making their way around the UK named ‘Young Heart Attack’, alas, this is a band that if you have the merry opportunity too, you should see them post haste. Why? Because they’re ace. They’re from Austin Texas and their vice in rock and roll in the upmost traditional sense. Think Zepplin, think AC/DC, think music that you don’t actually have to ‘think’ anything about other than simply enjoying yourself.

I know you all have ‘issues’ and no one really ‘understands’ you and that the music of Bloc Party and Foals speaks to you in a way that no one else really ‘gets’ like you but all that teenage angst aside; if you can’t go to a Young Heart Attack gig and not enjoy yourself then you’re not as mature as you think you are.

This gig was basically balls out rock and roll with one main thing letting it down; the crowd. It would appear that YHA’s key demographic are denim clad forty somethings that get as much of a thrill from the music as they do drinking on a work night. A tight and energetic performance was deserved of a much better reception and despite the rather poor delivery of ‘Munki’ off their latest offering ‘Rock and Awe’ where the words “I’m gonna knock your walls down” have never been sang with such uncertainty (so much so it felt that the line should have ended with a question mark) YHA were quite fantastic tonight.

The sad thing is I feel the poor reception may lead to them not returning to blighty anytime soon.

When I first heard about Young Heart Attack’s split in 2006 a sudden rush of melancholy came over me. After all, their debut album ‘Mouthful Of Love’ was pretty much my soundtrack to the summer of 2004. Driving round with the windows rolled down and ‘Starlight’ blaring out on the stereo (which may I add was turned all the way up to ’11’ of course) so when I heard that a plucky British label (Not On Your Radio) had decided to give them a 2^nd outing I was chuffed to say the least. I won’t lie to you though, I was a tad apprehensive putting the CD into my laptop for the first play with thoughts such as “Can they do it again?” and “Is the memory of my excitable youth acting as a potential melpomene for disappointment?” rolling around in my head, but then the unforgiving drum roll intro kicked in for the Albums title track ‘Rock and Awe’ and all worries were cast aside. An instant grin came flooding across my face; I was 18 years old again.

This is a bloody enjoyable album which actually shows real progression from their first LP. Not as rough-around-the-edges as Mouthful of Love and the songs a tad more polished and with far better production qualities throughout. Songs to point out include ‘Munki’, ‘Runaway’ and ‘Hell On Earth’ which are guaranteed shoe-in’s for the next mix CD I make.

Be warned though; if you like Foals then you’ll fucking hate this. It’s not clever and it doesn’t try to be. It knows what it is and it sticks to it rather unapologetically; it’s rock and roll. Enjoy it or shut the fuck up and listen to something else.

Looks like the summer of 2008 now has its soundtrack sorted for this humble reviewer.  

4/5